The Dawn of Heroes
by worthlesswbu
Summary: Seth is an orphan living in North Carolina, but when he runs away from the orphanage, and stumbles upon a beach, he sees a girl drowning in the ocean. I'm sure he didn't expect he'd end up in Crab Alley, or discover he's destined to defeat Malistaire!
1. Nightmares

**AN:** Hello, and welcome to my first story for Wizard101, _The Dawn of Heroes_. In this story, you will meet the main character, Seth, and the friends he makes across the Spiral in his quest to defeat the two dark wizards who separated him from his family at birth—Malistaire and Morganthe. But as Seth slowly unfolds the fact that Wizard City exists, he soon realizes his life will never be the same again. Please enjoy!

**CHAPTER ONE**

NIGHTMARES

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The shadowy figure stepped out of the darkness and approached me as I heavily breathed. I couldn't make out their face, but I knew that somehow, someway, this person in particular had something to do with my life here in North Carolina.

Finally, I could see them. He had pale skin and pitch black hair that fell down his shoulders in different pieces, some of which were braided. He wore a black and gold silk robe. He held a large staff—a black rod, with a blood-red crystal ball at the top, and on top of crystal ball was a golden dragon, whose tail wrapped around the rod of the staff.

"Are you sure, Morganthe?" asked the man. Another figure stepped out of the darkness. This one was a woman with midnight colored hair that reached down to her shoulder blades elegantly. Some of this black hair also covered her right eye in an emo-hair style. Her skin was as colorless white as the man's. She was quite beautiful, but the unappealing thing about her was what she was wearing. She had a black gown that seemed to be skinny, so it told me her body was either choking or she was anorexic. Something strange was coming out of the back of it—there were four giant spider legs, and filling in the space in between each of them was something that looked suspiciously like a spider web, so it made her look like a female Dracula with a strange spider-web type thing nearly encasing her head like a hut. She had black lip stick and purple eye shadow. Dark sleeves connected to her dress and covered her arms, yet formed a triangle separating her middle finger from her ring finger on each hand. She had red nail polish—which didn't surprise me, as she seemed to have black, purple and red everything—and wore a large, silver tiara. As I looked closer, two large spiders milled around at her feet.

"Yes, Malistaire," she said. "He will be the one to bring your downfall."

"Then I must prevent it!" Malistaire shouted, obviously exasperated. "I will banish him from Wizard City the instant he is born and send him to the world of mortals!"

"Fate is impossible to change," warned Morganthe. "If you simply send him to the world of mortals, Ambrose will find him. Knowing him, he'll bring the child back here and enroll him in Ravenwood. That's when he'll destroy you, and probably I as well. We have no choice but to kill him."

"You said Fate was impossible to change. If you saw what's supposed to happen, then—never mind. I'm not going to think about that. But what if I raised him as my slave? He'll grow up to respect me!"

"He'll rise up against you. We _have_ to kill him."

"Ambrose and I were in an encounter yesterday, and Cyrus handed me a potion. He said it would heal me. It has drained me of magic. Oh, what an idiot I was."

Morganthe looked like she was about to add something, but Malistaire interrupted her. "Either way, I will not fully regain my magic until the darkest day in fifteen years: the Winter Solstice. Ironically, it's the same day that the Spiral will line up with not only the nine other planets, but the sun and the moon."

"How cliché," Morganthe muttered quietly.

"Anyway," Malistaire continued, clearly starting to get annoyed. "I do not have my magic. I will not be able to kill the child, because, as you know, Ambrose puts a protection spell on all wizard children that prevents them from being murdered by hand, and without my magic, I cannot send him to the world of mortals."

"I will do it," said Morganthe. Malistaire and Morganthe grinned evilly in unison. They shook hands. He pounded his tall staff on the ground, and as the sparks flew from the butt of the rod, the darkness began to swallow everything, and the two adults faded into nothing.

**XxXxX**

I woke up both shivering and sweating. I was surprised that I could be so hot yet so cold at the same time.

This wasn't my first weird dream.

As I was slightly trembling, I lifted the blankets that covered me and carefully opened the door to the room I was in, which would be the room I share with every other orphan in this stupid place.

Yep. I'm an orphan. Have been ever since I was born.

Okay, okay, so if you knew me, I wasn't the most popular kid around. My life was torture until I had learned the truth behind my vivid nightmares. I had one friend in the orphanage: Tristan. Both of us were forced to endure the torture of Sophia, one of the most popular girls in our orphanage.

The orphanage was a lot like a school—it had the popular kids, the jocks, the preps, the nerds, et cetera, and Sophia was considered the "lead-snob" along with her wannabes Vanessa and Carly. I was their primary target because of the weird things I "accidentally" do with my abnormal powers. So, whenever something strange happened, glances were exchanged between Sophia and her wannabes because they always instantly accused me. One of the most satisfactory moments of my life (I'm talking about _before_ I figured out about what I really was) was when I had made their food explode in their face. It was that one time when people were laughing at Sophia, Carly and Vanessa, not me.

But they've had plenty of chances to get their revenge at me. When I was seven, Sophia had stolen the amulet I wear—the last piece of my parents that I have—and an entire shack of plates and mugs fell apart. Another time, when I was nine, Jack, another kid at the orphanage was trying to pretend he had abilities like me. Normally I'm not the center of attention (and I'm just fine with that), but someone pretending to be me—especially one of my enemies—just made me steamed. Somehow in the hallway near where Jack and I were arguing a trashcan had spontaneously combusted.

I had slowly acquired control over my strange powers, but I definitely wasn't a master yet. I wished I was able to make Sophia's food explode in her face again, or to have Jack standing in a trash can on fire when I needed or wanted him to.

But still, I let yet another thing slip as I found out about my true self.

**XxXxX**

As usual, the day begin with the usual joking and jeering and calls of "Oh no! _It_'s here! Don't go near them!"

For some reason, they seemed to think I had some weird disease from China. _Yeah right,_ I thought. _They stay away from me when some of them supposedly _want_ the disease from China_.

I decided to go get some breakfast, and that's when my life turned upside down. No, it wasn't breakfast that made me realize my true identity, but as I walked by the entrance of the orphanage, I saw my friend, Tristan, standing there with an adult woman. He had a suitcase next to him. I tried not jumping to conclusions, but as the orphanage owner was speaking to the woman, I walked over to Tristan.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Why do you have your suitcase? Who's that woman?"

Tristan sighed. His black shaggy hair hung somewhat in front of his green eyes. As usual, I had to slightly look up to him, as he had always been taller than me and I felt he always would be. His skin was more pale than usual.

"Seth…" he trailed off. "Seth, I don't know how to say this…"

I mentally built a dam to prevent my tears from streaming down my face. Tristan was my only friend here. Who else would help me stand up to Jack and Sophia? Who would laugh with me when something weird happened to one of our enemies?

"Seth," Tristan continued. "I'm being adopted."

And that's when a tear streamed down my face. I hugged him.

Despite the fact that I was feeling incredibly sad, I tried to be friendly and outgoing. "So…what's your new name?"

"Holcomb," he said. "Tristan Holcomb is my name now."

Geneviève French stopped talking to the woman Tristan was standing near. Geneviève was this tall blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who seemed to have a date every week. All of us orphanage kids secretly figured she was a prostitute. Yes, home-schooled orphan kids knew about perverted things like that. And yes, she was the owner of the orphanage.

"It was nice to meet you, Kate. I hope you enjoy having Tristan in your house as much as I did having him here!"

I gave Geneviève a strange look. She didn't care about any of the kids in our orphanage.

"I will. Come along, Tristan," said Kate. She took Tristan's hand, but he slipped out of it quickly. He gave her a sly smile, as if to say: _You've won me. I don't need you holding my hand._

Each step as Tristan walked to the front door caused me pain. I didn't love him. Well, I did, but in a brotherly way. I wasn't homosexual (though there is nothing wrong with homosexuals). Finally, Kate opened the door and offered Tristan to walk out before her with a kind hand gesture. He glanced at me one last time, and I never saw him again.

Kate followed Tristan out the front door. I discovered Geneviève was standing next to me. "_Rotten orphan,_" she muttered silently, while still looking at the now closed front door, clearly referring to Tristan. I gave her a look of disgust, and luckily she didn't notice, because otherwise, I would be placed on cleaning duty for probably the rest of the month.

_Poor Tristan,_ I silently thought. He was such a shy teenager. I was the only person he opened up to. He would take _so_ long adjusting to his new family. He was only a year younger me, just thirteen, and unfortunately, he couldn't have been adopted sooner. If he was adopted as a baby at least his adoptive parents might be able to get away with saying that they were his parents. That way he wouldn't live through the burden I had to go through. Unfortunately, it didn't happen like that.

I arrived back in the kitchen where I found Sophia, Carly and Vanessa sitting at their usual seats, trying to look pretty and barely eating anything.

I took a loaf of bread and a few strawberries and put those on my plate. I poured myself a glass of orange juice. I got out a bowl and poured some Frosted Flakes into it.

You'd think at such a horrible orphanage I'm describing that we'd have limited refrigerator access, horrible food, couldn't watch TV, et cetera. In fact, a lot of that was true. However, when Geneviève wasn't around, even at the breakfast table, things were a bit more cheerful. It made the food even taste slightly better. But then Geneviève walked in, taking away the untouched plates Sophia, Carly and Vanessa had in front of them. She let me finish my breakfast, which quite surprised me.

Geneviève was somewhat technologically advanced, and so our orphanage was set up with tons of alarm systems, intercom speakers, telephones in every room, and so on. Geneviève walked over to the kitchen sink, where the intercom was, and began speaking into it. Immediately, her voice was projected through speakers that blared all around the house.

"Every _god damn orphan_," she began, "better wake up _right now_ because I have news to tell everyone!" She sounded very bitter (or even more bitter than she usually was) this morning. Instantly, other orphans poured out of bedrooms wearing their pajamas and some of them holding teddy bears.

When every orphan was in the kitchen, despite the fact that they seemed incredibly exhausted, everyone intently listened.

"First note of business," Geneviève said somewhat groggily, as if she was somewhat drunken or as tired as the rest of the orphans, "is that Tristan was adopted. His new last name is Holcomb."

Several people began to slowly clap, but instantly Geneviève glared at them, told them to shut up, and they followed her command.

"Second," spoke Geneviève, "is that I have a date tonight. He is picking _me_ up for once, so I want this orphanage in immaculate shape, even if you have to work straight through to the point in which he gets here!"

Some people groaned, but finally said, "Yes, Ms. French."

Most of the orphans who hadn't eaten breakfast at that point never got breakfast. Geneviève wanted us to get to work instantly, and being much less powerful than she was, we were forced to grant her every wish.

Somehow, I managed to make it to six in the evening, when Geneviève's date arrived. As usual, I could hear her downstairs as she tried pulling the nice act to make him think she treated us with respect. Of course, it was generally the complete opposite.

I was upstairs still mopping the floors of the giant orphanage. Sometimes I wished it wasn't so big, but it was so full of other kids, so it was great never to be alone. Unfortunately, most of them made fun of me, and Tristan was gone and had a new family. For all I knew, he could be celebrating with them, having a grand dinner and already completely forgot about me. Or, he could be being abused, which made my mind feel even worse.

I was mopping the floor while Sophia had her wannabes Carly and Vanessa do all of her work, while Sophia simply sat against a book shelf looking as if she had completed her job, which she hadn't even started.

Felix, another one of the boy orphans, said "Sophia. You _can_ do work _too_, you know."

Sophia sighed. "I could. But does it _look_ like I'm going to be doing work anytime soon?"

"Maybe you should think about fixing up your stupid life," one of the girls, Molly told her. "You're going to grow old, weak, and alone. Or better yet, die in this orphanage. Never adopted. Vanessa and Carly will move on. I can't believe you think you can rule this place."

Sophia rolled her eyes, stood up, and loomed over the nine-year old Molly. Sophia was fifteen, and one of the oldest kids in the orphanage. So, naturally, Molly was slightly frightened of her. Sophia's shadow covered Molly completely.

"Don't you insult me," Sophia warned in an ominous voice. "Or you'll regret it."

"How so?" I asked. I stood between Molly and Sophia. "She's a nine-year old girl, Sophia. Pick on someone your own size. Nobody here has done anything wrong to you, and you've completely brainwashed Carly and Vanessa. Remember when they _hated_ you?"

Sophia's eyes grew wide. She turned to her two wannabes. "You used to _hate_ me?"

Vanessa began to speak, but Carly shook her head while looking at her. They both got back to work. Sophia turned back to look at me.

"It doesn't matter. They like me now. And now, back to threatening Molly."

She began to walk over to the seven year old, but I grabbed her arm. "First off," I said, "you aren't harming anyone. Second, what are you going to harm her _with_? A nail filer?"

With her free hand, Sophia picked a broom off the wall. She slapped me, probably thinking it would get me to let go of her arm, but it didn't. I punched her.

However, she crossed the line when she yanked at the amulet—my amulet—that my parents had given me. It wasn't too fancy or too flashy. It had a normal, thin, white string, and a circle on the end, which had three smaller circles, each of them containing a little picture inside—one of a ball of fire, another of a snowflake, another of a storm cloud. The bigger circle that the three smaller circles were surrounding had a picture of a tree on it.

The amulet fell off my neck and onto the ground. It was still in one piece when it fell, and I was just about to pick it up when, with her high heels, she stepped on the amulet. The three circles containing the pictures of the ball of fire, the lightning cloud and the snowflake shattered. Somehow, bursts of light exploded the three small circles.

And that's when I was pissed.

I could feel my cheeks burning with rage. I started to raise my arms. Soon, my vision started to fill with the tint of the color white. I screamed, though it sounded different somehow; much more powerful, mature and chaotic. Brooms and mops flew around the room. A tile came loose from the ground. It flew up and hit Sophia on the forehead, knocking her to the ground, unconscious. The white tint in my eyes faded.

I didn't even bother looking back. I didn't bother picking up the amulet. Sophia had destroyed it, and her _stupid_ foot had contaminated it. I went into the nearest bedroom and opened the window. While the door to the hallway was still opened, I could see the shocked faces of the other orphans—Felix, Molly, Julia, David, Bridget—looking at me in awe. I gave them one last glance, and then jumped out the window.

**XxXxX**

Yeah, it was three stories high, but honestly, the fall didn't really hurt me that much. The shrub I fell into broke my fall and gave me a couple of scratches, but otherwise, I was fine.

I wasn't really sure where to go. I just followed the sidewalk.

I couldn't believe what Sophia had done. That amulet was the last connection I had to my parents. And yes, I knew this all sounded a lot like Annie, but I knew that I wouldn't be meeting a Daddy Warbucks or a Grace Farrell anytime soon.

Eventually, I found myself at the beach. The autumn air nipped at my arms, and I could see that leaves seemed to be falling off of trees. The sky was gray and cloudy, and the wind gently washed through my brown only somewhat-long hair. It was kind of Zac Efron-ish, but my hair was faintly shorter.

A car zoomed past me, and that's when I realized something—for the first time ever, I was alone. No Tristan, no Sophia, no Jack, no noisy orphans, no Geneviève, et cetera. I was never alone at the orphanage. But now I was.

And another thing—this was practically my first time in the regular world. It felt nice. I felt all the stress slowly leaving my body. I didn't have to worry anymore. I had escaped. The only way I could possibly get caught was if Geneviève had somehow found me here.

But I decided not to think about it at that moment. I walked past the sea wall and onto the beach, and sat on the sandy shore, relaxing calmly, with nobody to tell me what to do.

I was about to close my eyes when I saw the screaming and drowning girl.

**AN:** Well, did you like it? Yeah, I know, it's somewhat of a boring beginning, especially because he isn't in Wizard City yet and it's barely made any references to his powers, but I promise, there is more to anticipate, and the anticipation won't be a waste of time, I assure you!

**Questions:**

Why do you think there's a screaming and drowning girl in the water? Why would the author include such a detail?

How do you think Seth is going to get to Wizard City?

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(Taylor [you know who you are], don't answer these questions!

**~PJATOSROCKS09~**


	2. Crab Alley

**AN:** Hello, my fans, and welcome to the next chapter! I am on my mom's computer as I'm writing this, because my other computer is broken and SHOULD (I'm not sure if it will) be fixed. So, I'm resorting to write on here. However, I might be back on my old computer by the time I finish writing this. Anyway, on with the chapter!

**© - I do not own Wizard101, Monsters Inc., Merle Ambrose, Crab Alley or its monsters, Dalia Falmea, Susie GryphonBane, and the physical features described from Crab Alley and Triton Avenue from the Wizard101 gaming. **

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**CHAPTER TWO**

Crab Alley

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I could barely process the moment.

Just after I had run away from it all; right when I had escaped the orphanage successfully; right when I got away from Sophia, Carly and Vanessa, and Jack and Geneviève and all of her boyfriends; a girl was _drowning_ in the ocean.

I watched with a horrified face. She turned to look at me. Her face went under the water, and then came up to the surface again.

"Help me!" I could hear her say from a distance. Her dark hair was sopping wet. Her blue eyes pleaded for the help she demanded.

I remembered something Felix had told me, something about people who are drowning. He said that his parents—before they gave him up for adoption—had told him that if you're head is to go underwater three times, you're dead. I didn't know how many times this girl had gone underwater.

She splashed around frantically, and I sighed. I didn't know how to do CPR if she ended up lacking air by the time I had gotten her. What was I to do? I wasn't a lifeguard. Why were her parents not with her anyway? But when I looked more closely, I realized she looked about my age…fourteen. Her parents had probably allowed her to go to the beach alone.

But I couldn't just let her _die_. That would be considered murder, wouldn't it? I had to do something.

And so, naturally, I jumped into the water, and little did I know, this one simple action would change my life forever.

As my face became submerged underwater, I tried to make out my surroundings in the green murk. It was kind of hard. I could really only see seaweed and sand. But eventually, as I swam further away from the shore, I could see the girl's body—her kicking feet underwater. As I came closer, she suddenly went underwater once more.

But then, something weird happened.

She waved her hand, and a burst of light exploded from her fingertips. I felt a wave of heat, and the girl was gone.

_Okay_, I thought. _This must be a dream. I fell asleep on the sand and none of this is happening._

But then the girl appeared in the water again. I started to lose air underwater. I forced myself to the surface, but it seemed _so_ far up. Just as I was about to reach the surface again, I opened my mouth and breathed through my noise just a nanosecond before I reached the surface and I could breathe again.

As soon as I was above water, I could feel the cold wind ripping at my wet shirt. I probably should've left my clothing at shore, so I could have something warm to change into, but for all I knew, they could've been stolen by rebellious teenagers.

But those thoughts were at the back of my mind. In the nanosecond that I had started breathing again, while still underwater, I felt able to…well, breathe; but normally. As if the water was simply just liquid air.

Looking down below me, I noticed the girl's body once again, and sighed. I swam underwater once more.

I was having difficulty locating the girl's figure at first. But I began to think about the whole, breathing underwater thing again. I looked up. I hadn't been too far from the surface. If I just tried to breathe for a little bit…and if I began sucking in water, I could go to the surface and spit it all out.

So, with that in mind, I began to breathe as if above water.

And I breathed averagely. It felt normal, as if I was breathing on land, except, I was in water. Despite my state of shock at being able to breathe underwater, I wondered about the girl. Did it have anything to do with the explosion of light she projected?

But then I remembered the girl, and I began to look for her.

Something grabbed my arm. I screamed. The scream sounded bubbly, like you'd hear underwater if someone were being attacked by sharks or piranhas or an octopus, but despite that, no water entered my mouth.

I looked around, jerking my head and neck fiercely. What had grabbed my arm wasn't any of the three sea creatures I had listed. It was the girl.

But then she did something that surprised me most. She began swimming downward. I began to scream and tried yanking away from her grasp, but she was pretty strong. She continued swimming down, and I looked up to see the surface getting further and further away from me.

_Was that the last time I was ever going to see land?_ I wondered.

I was curious why neither of us was dead after the long amount of distance we had traveled underwater, and I was surprised how she was able to pull me down with her along with the fact that the pressure of the sea should have crushed us way by then. We didn't see any sea creatures. There didn't seem to be any ocean floor. It felt like we were swimming down and down forever.

But then a school of fish swam by. I got a little bit excited for a second—a shred of hope opened in my heart.

But things just kept getting weirder. Suddenly, I saw something. It was…it was…a building?

How could there be a _building_ underwater? It was huge. Was this Atlantis?

_No, Seth,_ I thought to myself. _Atlantis doesn't exist._

And yet somehow, more underground houses started to appear in view. They all had stormy purple colored roofs, and had a smooth, marble texture for walls. I looked at the underground palace again.

_How could this be here? I _have_ to be dreaming._

And yet for some reason, I didn't know why I was letting the girl drag me here, underwater, in the first place. For some reason, the girl just didn't seem like someone you wanted as an enemy. Her black hair floated around her shoulders.

I continued to look at my surroundings. The ground looked a purplish color, but had a cobblestone texture. The sidewalks were separating the houses from the streets, and had lightning bolt designs on the curbs of them.

And then, looking at my surroundings; was when I noticed the giant monster things.

They looked like giant crabs. Well, some of them did. Others were colored yellow and looked like types of creatures you'd see in the movie _Monsters Inc _(and the only reason the orphans and I had watched it was, one day, Geneviève came home drunk and rented the movie for us). I began to scream. The girl held her finger to her mouth in a _Shhh!_ manner.

Then I began to notice other people. They were dressed in weird robes. Some of them had capes. They all were wearing hats of different shapes and sizes. Some of them seemed to be standing on giant circles which somehow magically appeared on the ground when they came into contact with the monster type-things.

Each of the people, whether they were standing on the sidewalk or in one of those giant circles, were holding some type of rod, and they all had different ones of every shape, size and color. They were like wizard wands.

I paid attention to the people standing on the giant circles. There were four miniature circles on either of the two opposite sides of it. The monsters seemed to go to one side while the people went to the opposite side.

Something weird happened. As I paid attention to one person, they waved their wand, and with a light that their rod type-thing created, they drew a symbol in the air. They then tapped the symbol, and some weird creature appeared in the middle of the circle that separated the monsters from the people. The symbols created in the air seemed to vary. The creatures the people had summoned would attack the monsters. But the monsters seemed to have the same abilities as the people did. And sometimes, the monsters were sucked into the ground, the giant circle would fade, and even some material—coins, robes, et cetera—were left behind. But sometimes, the people's heads began to turn slowly around, and they'd fade into nothing, and the giant circle faded.

I wondered why I was watching this so calmly, with the giant monsters running around, the creatures people were summoning and the overall weirdness taking place, but considering I had grown up doing weird things, and was _breathing_ underwater after light had exploded from the fingers of a girl who was pretending to drown, I expected nothing could get much weirder. Of course, I was wrong.

I couldn't help but think about the fact that some of these creatures looked familiar. Somebody summoned a cat that seemed to be on fire. One time, when I was mad at Carly, a creature that looked similar had been summoned. It was all very confusing. Besides, how could a cat be on fire underwater?

But then the girl left my side, and began floating upwards. I began to sink down onto the sidewalk. One of the giant crab creatures began walking towards me. He roared. I screamed, and probably like a little girl. I began swimming for the surface, trailing behind the girl who had brought me here.

**XxXxX**

_Pffft!_ was the noise I heard my head exploded over the surface. I was surrounded by more water. I looked above to see a cliff like thing with beautiful green grass. Nearby, there was a tiny island where yet another one of the giant circles was formed. There seemed to be a giant purple thing. Above me, there was a bridge.

"Taylor?" a girl shouted from above from over the edge of the cliff. I looked at the girl who had brought me here; who I assumed was named Taylor.

"Yeah," Taylor said. "It's me. Could you lend a hand?"

The girl who was overlooking the cliff smiled and began waving her hands, when suddenly; a strange, fluttery feeling surged inside of me. I began floating, slowly and slowly out of the water.

Finally, I reached the top of the cliff and landed on my feet next to Taylor, and the girl who had somehow floated us up here. People began to crowd around Taylor and I.

"Taylor? Why are you so wet?" asked one of them.

A woman with a reddish-orange dress formed a path through the crowd. Her hair stuck up and swiveled around like an oddly shaped candle flame.

"My student! I'm so sorry Ambrose sent you out into the ocean on such a dangerous journey! I'm not sure why he would send a student of Fire! That should've been a Storm student's job!"

"Its fine, Mrs. Falmea," Taylor said. "Really, it is."

The lady whose last name seemed to be Falmea nodded slowly, and slightly sympathetically. I had never heard of a last name such as Falmea, but considering I grew up in an orphanage, I hadn't had much exposure to surnames. She put her arm around Taylor and took her away from the crowd who didn't bother to leave their standing positions. It was kind of awkward being stared at by people I didn't know.

"Um, can someone _please_ tell me what's going on?" I begged.

"Luke, what are you talking about?" asked one of them. I looked at them.

"Okay, first off, my name isn't Luke. It's Seth. Second—"

The crowd began to halfheartedly laugh as if I had caused some brief entertainment.

"Okay, stopped kidding around," one of the guys said. "It's really not that funny. And what types of clothes are _those_? Why are you wearing them?"

I turned down to look at my ratty old orphanage clothes. "Maybe if I hadn't been living in an orphanage all of this time—"

Some of them began to laugh again.

"What?" I demanded. "It's really not that funny."

"Luke," one of the girls said. "It's not that funny anymore. Just stop."

"My name," I said through my gritted teeth, "is _not_ Luke! It's Seth! I've told you this already!"

"Alrighty, _Seth_," said one of them sarcastically while rolling their eyes. I ignored them, and pushed my way through the crowd.

"Where are you going?" asked two girls in unison. They appeared to be twins.

"To figure this out on my own," I told them. "You've been no help at all."

I walked away, feeling proud.

I heard a voice coming from another girl. She was calling off to my right. When I turned to look at her, the first thing I noticed was her hair. It was purple, so I wondered if it was a wig. It looked pretty natural. It was tied into a ponytail. She was wearing purple and yellow colored clothing.

"I haven't heard back from my brother, Artur, in a while. Could you help me?"

I felt a little bad. "I'm sorry about your brother, but I just appeared here randomly after this girl seemed to be drowning in the ocean. Then we saw this underwater Atlantis type-place. We swam to the surface, and here I am. I need to figure out what's going on."

"Ah," she said. "So you're a newcomer. My name is Susie. Susie GryphonBane. What's your name?"

"It's Seth," I told her, "but I don't have a last name."

"I'll contact Headmaster Ambrose right away," she told me. I didn't know who this Ambrose guy was, but he seemed to be pretty important. I almost smiled. Someone seemed to understand that I was in need of help.

I stood there starting to admire my surroundings, but it was kind of hard when Susie began to chant something I couldn't understand. From her hands, mist started swirling from her fingertips. Eventually, the mist began to form into a collection of grey fog—a storm cloud.

Suddenly, in the middle of the storm cloud, the face of an old man began to appear.

"Headmaster," Susie said. "I have urgent news to discuss."

"Is this about Artur, sweetie? I'm sorry, I'm doing everything I can, but I have different matters—"

"It's not about that, sir. There's this guy standing next to me—his name is Seth. He says that someone brought him here through Crab Alley."

Through the image of the storm cloud, the Headmaster grinned. "Taylor did excellent", I could hear him whisper.

Susie asked, "What?"

A boy no older than seven years old walked into the image next to the Headmaster and began to tug on Ambrose's robe. "I will be there in a minute," said Ambrose.

And then the stormcloud dissipated, the image obliterated into wisps of what was previously a thick stormcloud, and was blown away by the wind.

Susie and I stood there in silence as we waited. Then, there was a blinding flash of light, and a figure stepped out of the light he came from.

He looked like the man whose image was on the storm cloud. He had snowy white hair, and very thick eyebrows, which were the same color as his hair. He had a long thick beard which was colorless white. He wore a glass monocle and had turquoise colored eyes and wrinkly pale skin. He wore purple colored robes with yellow stars scattered around on them. He had a tall hat which had a similar design to his robes. His robes were tied together by a silk wrapping around his waist that was colored red and gold. He held a long staff-like object that curved like a crescent moon at the top and had a glowing, blue ball of light floating in the space that the crescent moon shape provided.

Finally, the man stepped forward. He grinned, obviously delighted. He grabbed my cheeks and slightly moved my face back and forth, as if a parent obsessing over their growing child.

"What am I doing here?" I demanded. "I don't mean to be rude, but—"

Ambrose placed his index finger to my lips, motioning me to stop speaking. "I will explain everything. I am Merle Ambrose, headmaster of Ravenwood School of Magical Arts. Welcome to Wizard City."

**AN:** Did you enjoy it? And yes, I am still on my mom's computer. This took me only two days to write. Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! This story is moving on still rather quickly. Well, at least he's in Wizard City and some of the action will begin to start happening.

**Questions:**

Do you think Seth's traveling to Wizard City was creative?

What do you think will happen next? What will Seth discover?

Why do you think people were calling Seth by the name of Luke?

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**~PJATOSROCKS09~**


	3. Explanations

**AN:** Hello! Welcome to the newest chapter! It's kind of long, and it might be kind of boring, because Merle basically teaches Seth how the basics of how to battle, they pick his school, meet the family, et cetera, but the enjoyment of it is up to you.

**© - I do not own Mountain Dew, the Royal Playhouse, Merle Ambrose, the Book of Secrets, the settings in the Wizard101 gaming, or anything associated with battling, spell cards, et cetera. The point is, I do not own Wizard101. **

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**CHAPTER THREE**

Explanations

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I was stunned. So many questions were bubbling in my mind, but they were jammed in my throat, making me inaudible. Wizard City? Where was that? Of course, I had always lived in an orphanage, and I didn't get out much, but who would name a place _Wizard City_? Who would name their child _Merle_?

"I know it must seem confusing," said Ambrose, as if reading my mind. I wondered if he had heard the _Merle_ comment. "We must continue to discuss in my office. Thank you for contacting me, Susie."

"Your welcome, headmaster," Susie replied.

Ambrose nodded and began to chant. Suddenly, a bright white light engulfed seemed to engulf the stormy location I was standing at. It seems cliché, I know, but what happened was true, and things that were cliché were some of the last things I was wondering about at that moment. Why was this happening? _How_ was it happening?

The light faded, and I was standing somewhere else.

The room I had been transported to looked like an office, but it seemed like it wasn't. The room was colorful, with red colored walls with intricate yellow-colored designs on it. There was a brown desk littered with many stacks of papers and old-looking books. Other people—whom I assumed were students considering everyone referred to Merle as "Headmaster Ambrose"—were bustling about and quickly swarmed towards Ambrose almost an instant after we had both appeared in the room.

"Everyone out for a few seconds please," Headmaster Ambrose demanded in a somehow sweet tone. "I have other important matters to deal with."

Some people groaned and tried to speak, but eventually all of the students fell silent. People began to exit the office, and when only Merle and I remained in the room, he waved his staff. A giant old lock faded into existence in the air and floated over to the front door. It connected itself with the doorknob and I could hear the clicking noise of the lock locking. I was trapped in a room with a creepy old guy.

I could tell Ambrose wanted to speak, because he opened his mouth, but I was the first to talk.

"What am I doing here?" I asked. "What is this place?"

"Excellent question," laughed Ambrose, but then he sighed, as if he was about to give a speech that he had given numerous amounts of times. "Seth, as I told you, you're in Wizard City. It's one of the many worlds in a galaxy that mortals call The Spiral."

"Why is this place named Wizard City? And how are there worlds inside the Spiral? What's going on?"

Ambrose sighed.

"Well?" I demanded.

"Seth," Ambrose replied quickly. "You're a wizard."

"What? There's no such thing! Just tell me the truth, please."

"I am!" exclaimed Ambrose. "Seth, I know it's a difficult subject, but I can explain everything, I assure you!"

"Then what is this place, and what am I doing here?"

"I'm sorry, Seth, I'm not trying to sound rude, but I've told you a number of times—you are in _Wizard City._ It is one of the existing worlds in The Spiral Galaxy. Wizard City is the place where Ravenwood School of Magical Arts is located. That is where wizards learn how to harness their magical abilities."

"But how can wizards exist?"

"You'd be surprised what seemingly impossible events can occur. I'm pretty sure that I am not dreaming, because if I am, I've been dreaming my entire life. When you learn more about this place, you'll understand that almost nothing is impossible. At least that's _my_ philosophy. And I know that _you know_ that you aren't dreaming."

I wasn't sure how to respond. The problem was, he was right. I _knew_ at this point I couldn't be dreaming. I was almost starting to believe I was a wizard, despite him only telling me the information less than a minute ago.

"Fine," I said. "I believe you."

"Just…_fine…_? Most kids seem to take longer to believe the truth when they come from Earth, especially because people don't believe or practice magic there; at least, not that I know of."

I thought about all the incidents that happened to me in the past: the entire shelf of mugs and plates falling apart and breaking, the spontaneously combusting trashcan, and so on. Weirder things had happened. Once, a swimming pool turned into an ice skating rink. A severe thunderstorm began when Sophia dumped her food on me once.

"I guess, after everything that's happened to me in my life, it's a bit easier to believe. Do weird things happen if wizards get angry or sad or something like that?"

Ambrose nodded.

"That happened to me a lot back at the orphanage; but back to this whole 'wizard' thing. If I _am_ a wizard, then do I get any cool powers? Like teleporting, or creating that storm-cloud messenger thing that Susie made, or—"

"Let's start with the basics, first," said Ambrose. "In Ravenwood, there are seven different schools of magic. Wizards are chosen to train in a certain school. Each of the schools are separated into groups. There are the Elemental schools, which are Storm, Ice and Fire. Wizards of those schools can cast spells associated with those elements. The Spiritual School—"

I interrupted, "Hang on. How do I know which school is _mine_?"

"You take a certain test," Ambrose told me. "But anyway, the Spiritual Schools are those of Life, Death and Myth. Those schools are more unique. Life wizards can heal people. Myth wizards can summon minions, and so on."

"So, it's basically like a certain school of magic to train in," I guessed.

Nodding, Ambrose continued speaking. "In each school of magic, wizards can summon creatures that relate to their school. The creatures wizards summon do damage to their enemies in combat.

I remembered the giant circles I saw when I was underwater with Taylor. "Those giant circles," I said. "Are they what wizards use to combat?"

"Yes," said Ambrose. "It's pretty simple stuff once you get the hang of it. You are given spell cards for damage spells, healing spells, et cetera."

"This is kind of off topic," I warned, "but what if you don't like the school of magic you're placed in?"

"Luckily," Ambrose replied, "you can pick a secondary school to train in, so if you run out of spell cards, you have other spells to cast."

"How do spell cards work?"

"You'll understand later," Ambrose told me, as if trying to avoid making his speech longer. "What you mainly have to worry about in combat is health and mana."

"I'm pretty sure I already understood the fact that I needed _health_ to battle. But what in the world is mana?"

"'What in the Spiral'," Ambrose corrected. "But mana is a magical substance that fuels our magical abilities. If you don't have mana, you won't be able to cast spells."

Somehow, it was only when I ran my hand through my hair that I realized I was perfectly dry. Maybe it was the blinding light of Merle's teleporting. Perhaps it had some sort of heat wave? But that didn't matter. I had just discovered I was a wizard.

Ambrose and I were silent for a while.

"Well," said Merle, "I think it is time to see what school you shall be placed in!"

He led me over to a small pedestal which held a large, old-looking book with a brown leather cover and yellow colored pages, which added to the whole "old-looking book" effect. On the front cover, written in red were the words: _Book of Secrets_.

Ambrose—I wondered if I'd ever call him Headmaster—handed me a quill and a small jar of ink.

"Answer these questions, to find out what type of wizard you are," he told me.

The questions were pretty simple. The Book of Secrets asked things like "What is your favorite animal?", "How do you describe yourself?", "What is your favorite season?" et cetera, and it gave you options, so you didn't have to do very much thinking. It also asked what my favorite gemstone was out of the options I had, along with what type of thing I thought was most powerful. When I was done, I put the quill in the jar of ink and somehow, it vanished into thin air. I decided not to make a big deal out of it, since I had seen weirder.

I walked over to where Ambrose was pacing back and forth.

"I'm done," I told him.

"Alright, then," said Ambrose. "Let's see what school you'll be training in."

He walked over to the pedestal, and I followed him. I stood on the opposite side of the pedestal, so I couldn't see the book. His eyes glowed silver as he began to wave his hands over the book.

"_Ostendam_ _Discipli Umbraculum_," Ambrose chanted. The book glowed. Ambrose grinned, and opened the front cover.

I watched Ambrose's face as he looked at the page. It melted from a grin to a look of horror.

I walked over to the side of the pedestal where Ambrose was standing. The page he was looking at was blank.

"I'm assuming this is bad?" I asked.

"You have to be a wizard," Ambrose whispered.

"Does this mean I'm not a wizard after all?" I wondered if this was a dream coming to an end.

"Generally the corresponding symbol and name of the school the Book of Secrets decides is appropriate for the wizard taking the quiz appears on this page. This has only happened to one other student."

"What happened to him or her?"

Trembling, Ambrose looked up from the book and glanced at my face. "I cannot believe I didn't notice this more quickly! You look exactly like Lucas!"

There was that name again. Well, it wasn't the name the teens were referring to me as. But I knew what nickname was formed out of the name Lucas.

_Luke_.

Why was everyone calling me by that name?

"Can you _please_ tell me who this Luke person is?"

"I must bring you to the SteelWielder household this instant!"

Ambrose began to chant once more, and just as always when teleporting, a bright light filled my vision, and I felt like the ground had disappeared from my feet. Ambrose's office dissolved. It was like I was flying, but in a continuous white void of space.

Then I felt my feet touch the ground, and I smelled something fresh—like the outdoors, and I realized I was outside again.

Blue chirping birds were either flying around or were sitting in a bird bath. I was standing on beautifully cut green grass. But then I realized that I was standing on an island, in the middle of the sky. Trying to calm down my nerves, I stepped away from the edge of the island and began to take in more of my surroundings. A large house took up a lot of the space in the yard. There was a large building to my left, with two oaken doors that stood completely wide open. As I looked inside, I noticed the stage, the reddish pink curtains, and the set that seemed to be set up. I wondered if this supposed SteelWielder family was a family that lived in a circus, or organized plays for the mere entertainment of friends and family.

At one point, Ambrose and I reached the front door of the house. Gingerly, Merle knocked on the door. We waited for a few seconds. Then, a tall blonde woman opened the door. For a second, I thought it was Geneviève, and I almost screamed, but then I realized that this woman and Geneviève looked very different, and I stopped myself from screaming before my mouth could open.

"Headmaster Ambrose," the woman said. She had a very pleasant-sounding voice. "H-Hello. I'm sorry for stuttering, but I didn't expect you to come here so unexpectedly."

Then the woman seemed to notice me. She gasped.

"Lucas Christopher SteelWielder," the woman said through gritted teeth, "if you got in trouble with the Headmaster, there will be some _serious _issues with—"

"Mom!" a male voice complained inside the house. "I didn't do anything!"

Obviously confused, the woman looked back inside the house, and then at me. She gasped, and clapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes began to slightly shine.

"Angela," Merle said semi-quietly, as if trying to calm her down, "Lucas didn't do anything wrong. In fact, this is not Lucas."

Angela looked like she was about to cry. "S-Seth?"

"Um, yeah," I said, then stage-whispered to Ambrose, "How does she know my name?"

Ambrose laughed, and while he was doing so, I noticed Angela was calling for someone inside. Some person named Richard.

Finally, Ambrose stopped his minor chuckle session, and said to me, with deep, meaningful eyes, "Seth. Angela is your mother."

**XxXxX**

After I soaked in the detail of this Angela woman being my mother, an adult man walked over to the front door. He accused me of being Luke as well, but Ambrose explained to him that I was Seth.

"Oh my goodness," Richard muttered. "How in the Spiral…?"

"I found him a while ago," said Ambrose. "I sent one of my students, a girl named Taylor ThunderHeart to retrieve him. I didn't realize that he looked exactly like Luke until after Seth took the quiz in the Book of Secrets."

Angela and Richard looked at each other.

"What school of magic are you?" asked Richard. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Richard SteelWielder. I'm Angela's husband. Seth, if you truly are who Ambrose says you are, then this means that I am your father."

All of this was too much to take in. An actual family? I was too stunned to speak. My face felt a little bit hot. I felt a tear go down my right cheek. Angela and Richard rushed forward and hugged me.

After Angela and Richard stepped back, they said, "Merle. Seth. Please, come in!"

I waited for Ambrose to go in first. I felt protected by him. I wanted to follow him, to make sure I was absolutely safe.

The inside of the house was just as beautiful as the outside was. Its walls were designed the same way as Merle's office was. The floor had a light and dark brown tiling. Just as I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the red couch, and two large chairs of the same color as the couch. They all surrounded a coffee table, with the two chairs on either ends while the couch was positioned on the long side of the table.

Closing the door, Angela said, "We were just about to prepare dinner in the kitchen." She gestured to a room to my right where there was an oven, a table, and what seemed to be a pantry. I could smell the aroma of fresh bread, and my nose could sense a wonderful smell of sauce. I figured they were making spaghetti, which was one of my favorite foods. I wondered if it really was spaghetti, though, because I figured that in The Spiral, they would make different types of food that I didn't think would appeal to me.

"Richard," Angela called to her husband. He turned to look at her. "I'll keep working on the food. You get Lucas and Heather."

Richard walked halfway up the swirly staircase that seemed to lead to another floor in the house. "Luke, Heather, we need you to come downstairs.

"Just a second!" the same voice as I heard earlier shouted. A female voice said in unison with the boy, "Okay!"

Angela poured the food she was making into the sink and into a strainer, and as I watched her pouring, I realized that it _was_ spaghetti.

Angela told me to sit down at the table. She placed a plate in front of me and a spoon, knife and fork on the corresponding sides of the plate. She placed a drinking glass in front of me.

"What was your favorite drink on Earth?" she asked me.

I was surprised she even knew I was on Earth. Ambrose had never specifically stated that piece of information. Maybe it was just an assumption, but I answered her question.

"Mountain Dew," I responded.

She snapped her fingers, and my glass filled with a sparkling green liquid. I grinned, thinking I could get used to this whole "magic" thing.

_Why am I taking this so calmly_, I thought.

Richard walked down the stairs and pulled up two extra chairs, though I didn't know why considering there seemed to be plenty of seats to fill all of the people I assumed were eating at the table—Angela, Richard, Ambrose, the girl, Heather, the boy, Luke and me. As soon as Ambrose and Richard began having an animated discussion as they sat down, and Angela placed two large bowls, one of them containing the pasta, the other containing red sauce, a girl walked downstairs. Instantly, she greeted me.

"Hello!" she said happily, and I could tell she had a bubbly, happy personality. "I'm Heather."

She looked two or three years younger than me. She had light brown hair and hazel eyes. I estimated that she was maybe three or four inches shorter than me. Her cheeks were slightly sunburned, while the rest of her skin somehow seemed olive, whereas I had Mediterranean colored skin. She had freckles across her nose.

"I'm Seth," I responded. Heather looked up at Angela. "Is dinner ready? If it is, I'll get the other five."

Other _five_? Did Angela and Richard really have _seven_ children? Maybe Luke and Heather had friends over.

"Alright, sweetie," said Richard. Heather giggled and walked upstairs. I could hear some discussions being exchanged.

"Is Heather you're daughter with Angela?" I asked as Richard as he and Ambrose sat down. He nodded.

"So, if I am your son…would that make Heather—"

"Your sister?" Richard guessed. "Yes."

Heather walked downstairs and a girl slightly shorter than she was following her. This one had strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes.

The two of them sat down at the table.

"Seth," said Heather, "this is my friend, Olivia."

I smiled at her. "Hi."

Olivia said hi back, and then began to have a silent discussion with Heather, probably about her confusion about me and Luke. I could slightly hear Heather across the table explaining to Olivia, but I didn't know how, considering I hadn't noticed Ambrose or Richard or Angela discussing it with her. Maybe they did that mentally. I wasn't sure. Heather could've thought she was dreaming, or perhaps she was just used to the occasional weird occurrence.

I began to hear footsteps as I began to take a bite out of the bread I had put on my plate. I turned around and looked at the staircase to see three people walking downstairs. There was a boy with reddish brown hair and bluish green eyes, a girl with brown hair and blue eyes, and another boy, who I assumed was Luke. However, the boy with red hair was slightly taller than Luke, and therefore masked his face.

But finally, the brown haired girl and the red haired boy sat down, revealing the face of the boy who looked exactly like me.

**AN:** Cliffhanger! If you want to know what happens next, you'll just have to review! It's really not that hard. It's writing a few simple words for a whole new entire chapter. Well, answer these questions! (P.S. Still on my mom's computer, but I'm getting Todd back tomorrow/Friday!)

**Questions:**

Why do you think the page was blank when Seth was quizzed with the Book of Secrets? Why do you think it happened with Luke?

How do you think Seth and Luke will get along?

Who is your favorite SteelWielder family member so far, despite not knowing them very much yet?

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**~PJATOSROCKS09~**


	4. Friendship

**AN:** Hello my fans! Well, I'm in a…_pleasant_ mood. Note the sarcasm. I didn't get one _single_ review for the last chapter. Honestly guys, you can submit characters for the story. I'm not going to be happy if I'm just writing this so people can see their characters come to life without having to do write the story themselves. I bet that some of the people who submitted actually think they could get away with finding their character in a chapter, say "good chapter, update!" and :PP. So can you _please_ review more? A simple review is _not_ a lot to ask for. And you can say just about anything in a review. So please? You're lucky I'm even posting this chapter.

**© - I do not own Merle Ambrose, Triton Avenue, the Shopping District, **_**Sports **_**Illustrated, the Storm House, the Royal Playhouse, lemonade, the Spiritual Schools, the Elemental schools, Ravenwood, the Firecat, and **_**definitely**_** not the Wizard101 gaming (and anything else I forgot :P). **

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

Friendship

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As the three teenagers walked down the stairs, that was when I first realized that the hug that Angela and Richard—my parents—had given me was not only the first hug my parents had ever given me, but also the first hug where someone had approached me first wanting a hug, instead of me approaching them.

But that wasn't the primary thing I had on my mind. I noticed that the kid who looked exactly like me—Luke—hadn't bothered to even look up from his plate of pasta to greet me or even meet my eyes. He sat in silence, probably astonished by the entire situation, but I still had to wonder how he even knew of my existence before even coming down here. Perhaps Heather explained it to him, but why would he be so quiet? If I had a mysterious long-lost sibling, I'd be all over them. Maybe he wanted to give me space. Maybe he thought I was astonished, too, or maybe he was just naturally shy. And I still didn't even know how Heather wasn't very surprised about me, either.

The nine of us sat in silence as we ate. All of them seemed surprised by the presence of me and Merle. Eventually, all of us were finished and my parents began to clean up. Heather and Olivia went upstairs.

"Luke," Angela called to her son. He looked up from the table.

"Will you show Seth around? Richard, Merle and I have to talk about…things. Is that okay?"

Luke nodded, and I heard a slight, "Come along, Seth."

We were halfway up the swirly staircase when I noticed Luke looking back down at the kitchen. He said, "Monica. Anthony. You can come too, you know."

The girl, who I assumed as Monica, and the boy, who I assumed was Anthony, followed us up the steps. The four of us stumbled upon a larger section of the house, which had many doors leading to different places. The relaxing air conditioned household air spilled onto my body, refreshing me.

Luke walked into the center of the large room, which I decided to call the common room. This way, I got a better look at him. He _did_ look remarkably like me. We had the same brown hair and blue eyes. He had Mediterranean skin and some freckles, so I understood why everyone seemed to mistake me for Luke.

"Well, before I go on," he said, "I think I should introduce you to my friends."

The girl stepped forward. She had long light brown hair that fell to the bottom of her shoulderblades. The tips at the bottom of her hair were curled, but otherwise, her hair was straight. She had a statuesque figure—the type you'd see on the cover of _Sports Illustrated_ (and I knew about the magazine because Geneviève's boyfriends would sometimes leave them behind at the orphanage)—and aquamarine eyes which were surrounded by a sea of olive colored skin.

"Hi," the girl said. "I'm Monica RosePetal." I wondered why the people here had such peculiar surnames…Falmea, SteelWielder, RosePetal…

She held out her hand. I shook it.

"I'm Seth." I replied.

She gave me a smile. Her teeth were blindingly white, so I could tell she was an aspiring actress or model. I tried to imagine a TV show named _Wizard City's Next Top Model_.

The redheaded boy, Anthony stepped forward. His eyes were bluish green, and he had some freckles, but not the amount of what I was used to seeing on red-haired people.

"Anthony DragonBlood," the boy introduced himself. I shook his hand as well. Then, Luke began to continue giving a tour. I'll admit, I felt better with the company of Monica and Anthony, especially because I was properly introduced to them, because I would feel awkward being given a tour by my brother who seemed to hate me.

Luke showed me Angela and Richard's room, Heather's room and his room before bringing me to the guest room.

"I'm assuming they'll make this your bedroom," guessed Luke. "If not, they'll conjure a completely new room so they can have a spare guest room."

He showed me the attic, the bathroom, and eventually the living room. He was about to go outside, I could tell, to give me a tour of the outdoors, but my mom said,

"You can do that in the morning. It's far too dark out. Besides, Merle, Richard and I are done discussing."

Luke and I nodded. We looked at each other playfully.

"Monica and Anthony," Richard said, "would you mind going upstairs? Just for a few minutes? You can talk with Heather and Olivia, if you'd like."

"No problem," said Anthony. The two walked upstairs, leaving Luke, Merle, Angela, Richard and me alone in the kitchen.

"So," said Angela. "Let's start with the basics."

"Well," I said, "are me and Luke twins? Because that's the idea I'm getting."

"Yes, Seth. You and Lucas are twins."

I expected Luke to roll his eyes and say _Obviously_, because I _did_ ask a pretty stupid question, but he didn't.

Richard studied me anxiously, ran his hand through his short black hair and said, "Seth, where have you been all your life?"

"North Carolina," I told them. I explained my life in the orphanage, told them about Geneviève, Tristan, Sophia, Carly, Vanessa and Jack. I told them about my many strange dreams, the amulet breaking, my running away, and seeing Taylor drowning in the ocean.

Merle seemed to have lost me after I mentioned the dream. So, naturally, when I finished my story, he immediately questioned me.

"Seth, did you say that the people in your dreams were called Malistaire and Morganthe?"

I nodded. Ambrose looked at my mother and father.

"This gives us more to discuss later," said Ambrose, looking at my parents. I was slightly worried. Then, Ambrose looked at me again. "What happened to your amulet?"

"As I said, Sophia broke it," I told them.

Ambrose grinned, as if wanting to hear this answer.

"What we mainly have to discuss," said Angela, "is your school of magic. Now, Merle told us that the page in the Book of Secrets was blank after you took the test?"

I nodded once more.

"A similar thing happened to Luke, am I correct?"

"Yes," Luke told her while nodding.

"We signed up Luke to all three of the Spiritual schools—Death, Myth and Life. Luke does not have a specific primary school he trains in, so his teachers give him the spells that a student primarily training in their school of magic would receive."

"Wait…so there are spells that teachers give you that only can be given to you if you train in that _specific_ school of magic?" I questioned. Angela, Merle, Richard and Luke nodded in unison.

"Luke was placed in the Death, Life and Myth classes because his abilities as a child seem to relate to those schools—such as one time raising his grandmother from the dead, summoning a troll, being able to heal his friends after a duel, et cetera," explained Richard.

"Well," I said, "I've been doing things that seem to relate to the three schools in…what section is it called? The Elemental Schools? One time, I made a trash can light on fire. Another time, Sophia dumped her food on me, and a severe thunderstorm hit my town. A swimming pool turned into an ice skating rink because I wished for it."

"If that is true," Merle said, "then I feel that Seth is going through a similar thing as Lucas! Oh, how delightful! While Luke is training primarily in the three Spiritual schools, Seth shall train in the three Elemental schools! After all, the Book of Secrets came out with a blank page, which has only happened once before, and that was with Luke. If Luke was placed in Death, Myth and Life because of what magic he seemed to excel in, it would only make sense that Seth be placed in the three schools of magic that Seth excels in—the Elemental schools, Storm, Ice and Fire."

I slowly took in all of the information Ambrose had stated.

There was a short silence, but Angela decided to talk again.

"Well, I suppose that's enough excitement for one night! Merle, I'll let you return to your students. Unless, you want to stay. I have no problem with—"

Merle shook his head and said, "No, I have many papers and books to go through."

Ambrose looked at me once last time.

_ Follow me_, I heard his voice say in my head.

I was a bit startled, so I almost screamed, but decided not to. I followed Ambrose out of the kitchen and into the living room.

After a silence, Merle said, "Seth, I hope to see you attending Ravenwood in several days. I hope your realize the power you wield—the power that many wizards, some of them not so good, will want."

I nodded.

He was about to walk away, but then he said, "Oh, and Seth. Don't be surprised if you have a little gift tomorrow."

"W-Wait. What gift?"

Ambrose chuckled, and disappeared in a flash of light.

I walked back to the kitchen where Angela and Richard stood with Luke.

"So," I said. "Who's older? Me or Luke?

**XxXxX**

Slightly disappointed over the fact that Luke was three minutes older than me, I followed my twin brother upstairs and into his bedroom, where Monica and Anthony sat bored on Luke's bed.

"Hey," greeted Luke.

Monica and Anthony said hello back, and greeted me too. I think I might've grinned. I actually felt important.

For most of the night, we just talked. Apparently, Monica and Anthony were sleeping over. My mom and dad ordered pizza for us, and it tasted just as wonderful as the pasta did. I assumed that the food in Wizard City was somehow magically charmed to appeal to the person eating the food.

Monica, Anthony and I were having a nice conversation when Luke came back from getting us some glasses of lemonade. Suddenly, I heard a ringing noise. Taking caution, I jumped off the bed and ran to a corner.

"Seth?" Anthony called.

I asked, "Yeah?"

"It's just my cell-phone."

I felt like a total idiot. "Oh."

"Who is it?" asked Monica.

He looked at the phone, so I assumed there was a Caller I.D. The ringing continued. "It's Kelsey," he told Monica.

Monica made a heart with both of her hands and made kissy noises as Anthony answered the phone. He rolled his eyes and told her to shut up.

He began talking into the phone. I got out of my position in the corner and walked over to where Luke and Monica stood.

After swallowing some of her lemonade, Monica explained, "Kelsey is Anthony's girlfriend."

"Ah," I said.

Anthony covered the speaker of his blue phone. "Kelsey wants to know if you guys want to hang out in the Shopping District with her and Rose tomorrow."

"I don't know if I can go, Tony" said Luke. "My parents will probably want me to give Seth a tour around Wizard City tomorrow. But maybe I'll catch you guys in the Shopping District."

I felt kind of bad about that. I had mysteriously appeared at the door of the SteelWielder household, and suddenly I was their main priority. They seemed to want to pamper me. I didn't want Luke to miss out on plans with his friends just so he could give me a tour of Wizard City.

Anthony told Luke to stop calling him Tony, but Luke said that it was fun to annoy him. Anthony looked at Monica.

"I can probably go," said Monica. "I don't think my parents will care."

Anthony nodded. The girl on the other end of the phone said something to him.

Anthony said, "Natalie's going, and Jake might be coming, too."

Monica laughed, "Rose probably invited him."

"It's _so_ obvious she likes him," Luke commented.

"I think Jake likes her too, though," added Anthony. "I just don't think he knows how to show it."

Luke and Monica shrugged. It was kind of awkward for me to be standing there while Luke, Monica and Anthony gossiped, and I had no idea who they were talking about.

After a quick silence, I decided to make conversation by asking who everyone they referenced was.

"So…tell me about these people you mentioned."

The three friends exchanged glances with each other as if to ask who to discuss first."

"Well," Monica said, "there's Kelsey."

"She's Tony's—"

"_Anthony's_," Anthony corrected.

Luke rolled his eyes. "She's Anthony's girlfriend."

"Umm," continued Monica, "her parents are divorced."

"Yeah," said Luke. "She lives with her mom and step-father in this giant island in the middle of the sea on the weekdays and stays her dad on Triton Avenue on the weekends, so both of them have custody of her."

"What does she look like?"

"Well, she has jet black hair," Monica described.

"She's medium height," Luke declared. "She's not short, but she's not tall."

"And she has these intimidating gray eyes," Anthony admitted. "And if you get her mad, her eyes can legit shoot lightning bolts."

"Wonderful," I said sarcastically. "So I'm guessing she trains in the school of Storm?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Luke. "Plus, her last name is StormCloud, so it goes along perfectly with her school."

"I'm aware," I stated jokingly.

Luke slightly smiled. It became really quiet. And that's when we heard the meowing cat. We all burst out into laughter.

I looked around the corner where the meowing had come. The cat came out from a behind a corner. It seemed to be on fire. It jumped into Monica's lap and started nuzzling her. Monica didn't seem bothered or even intimidated by the fire.

It was there, sitting around at midnight, eating pizza with three people I didn't even know twenty four hours ago, that I finally felt like I had true friends. Of course there was Tristan, but these people were different. They went through similar stuff I did. And somehow, I felt…normal.

But there was one primary thought I kept on my mind. _If this is a dream, it's the best one I've ever had_.

**XxXxX**

I don't remember passing out, but eventually, all of us did. Monica, Anthony and Luke were still sleeping, and so was Monica's pet Firecat, whose name apparently was Duke Bruno. Duke Bruno was curled up next to Monica and was purring happily. I felt refreshed. I wasn't sure what time it was, but I felt…happy. I had woken up, and I was still in the SteelWielder home. Wizard City's probability of being a dream was decreasing.

Eventually, I walked into the bathroom to wash my face.

I gasped happily as I looked in the mirror before washing my face.

I was wearing the amulet.

The amulet was the gift Ambrose had been talking about.

**AN:** I'm not even going to ask questions for this chapter, guys. All I want is reviews. Is that too much to ask? Or do I have to threaten your character's life in the story to get reviews? xD.

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**~PJATOSROCKS09~**


	5. Enrollment to Ravenwood

**AN:** I'm back! I made this chapter extra long because of the wait you guys had to suffer through. :D

P.S. Sorry for my large amount of updates; my computer is screwing up and keeps uploading the previous chapter and I keep trying to fix it xP

**© - I do not own the term "Made in China", French toast, eggs, bacon, Wizard101, or any of the places on Wizard101. **

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Enrollment in Ravenwood

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I was trying not to obsess over the amulet being back with me again, especially when I had finally found my parents and the amulet had lost some of its value, at least in my mind, but I couldn't help admiring it. It was newly polished and fixed as if Sophia had never broken it. I couldn't see any broken cracks that could show the amulet had been previously destroyed. It was as if it wasn't the same necklace—but I knew it was. I could sense it. I flipped the amulet and looked at the back of it—where objects would normally say _Made in China_—and I could see my name was there. After all, the only reason I knew my name was Seth when I was growing up in the orphanage was because my name was engraved onto the back of my amulet.

I couldn't help but also realize, though, the three pictures engraved in the small circles surrounding the larger circle of the amulet—the storm cloud, the snowflake, and the ball of fire. If I really could control the three elemental schools—Storm, Ice and Fire—was that what the amulet symbolized? Had Angela and Richard somehow knew about what schools I'd be placed in? And did Luke have an amulet like mine?

Pondering over the answer to whether or not Luke had an amulet that matched mine, I walked back to the bedroom. Sprawled out on the floor, Luke continued sleeping, his chest rising up and down. And around his neck, I could see a thin, silver chain. I looked around his head, and on his pillow, I saw a piece of the amulet!

I walked over to investigate it. I knelt down on the floor. The amulet looked _very _similar to mine, but the three images were different. One of them was a green leaf. Another was a skull. Another was a pyramid with an eye, and I realized those must be the symbols of the three Spiritual Schools—Life, Death and Myth.

I took a shower and went downstairs. Soon I discovered Luke, Anthony and Monica had awoken, and they joined Angela, Richard and I for our serving of eggs, French toast, and bacon.

Breakfast began with silence. The food was outstanding, as usual, but I wondered if I looked repulsive due to the fact I was eating in large portions and shoving the food into my mouth and down my throat so quickly.

Finally, I decided to make some small talk. I began to ask questions of Angela, Richard, Luke, Monica and Anthony. Eventually, we stumbled upon the subject of schools of magic.

"I train in the School of Fire," proclaimed Monica.

Anthony added, "And I train in the Myth School."

I looked at my parents.

"Your father, sister and I train in the school of Balance," said Angela.

That statement caught me off guard. Nobody told me about a school of Balance.

I guess Richard could see the confusion on my face, because he said, "The School of Balance isn't an Elemental or a Spiritual School. The magic of Balance was discovered in Krokotopia."

I didn't know what Krokotopia was, but I pretended that I did. Nodding, I said, "Okay. I just didn't know what Balance was."

"Its fine," Angela told me. "You've barely been here for twenty four hours, so I don't blame you."

I smiled and took another sip of my juice.

Several minutes after breakfast was over, I heard a knocking on the door. Richard walked over to the door and opened it. A tall, brown-eyed, young-looking blonde stood hand-in-hand with a handsome, brown-haired man. The couple couldn't have been any older than thirty. At the man's side, there was a cute little girl that had the woman's smile, the man's eyes and dirty blonde hair.

"Hello Richard," greeted the man. "My parents sent me to pick up Monica."

The first thought that popped into my head was _Stranger Danger!_ However, Richard simply stepped aside and allowed the three people in.

Off to my left, I heard Monica shout, "Isabella!"

The little girl, who I assumed was Isabella, ran towards Monica and embraced her in a hug. Isabella appeared to be nine or ten, and her head only reached Monica's neck.

Monica looked up at me from her hug with Isabella, and then at the man. "Zach, this is Seth, Luke's twin brother. He arrived last night."

"What..?" asked Zach. "How—"

"I'll explain later." Monica looked at me again and gestured for me to come over to where she stood. Thinking of her as the kind of person I shouldn't mess with, I obeyed.

"Seth," Monica said when I reached where they stood, "this is my brother, Zachary."

I gave him a small wave.

"Nice to meet you, Seth," said Zachary. "Do you like Wizard City so far?"

"Yes." I responded.

"Good," Zach said with a smile.

"This is Stephanie," Monica continued, gazing at the woman. "Isabella is their daughter, and my niece."

If Isabella was adopted, I would understand the situation better, but considering Isabella looked like her mother and father, but appeared to be nine or ten, while Zach and Stephanie seemed younger than thirty, that would mean they would've had Isabella when they were…sixteen? Seventeen?

Isabella appeared to be distracted by Duke Bruno, who was purring and meowing happily as Isabella scratched his stomach. I guess she didn't hear her introduction, because she stood up off the ground, shook my hand, and giggled as she said, "I'm Isabella RoseThorn."

"Shouldn't her last name be RosePetal?" I asked confused to nobody in particular.

"In Wizard City, people can take the last name of their mother or their father," explained Monica. "Sometimes, though, the parents can't decide and mix their last names to give to their children. Sometimes the same thing is done for married couples. Stephanie's surname is LotusThorn."

I nodded once, taking in the information. "Do Lotus flowers even have thorns?"

"I don't know," said Isabella, "but I like my last name; and roses. I wouldn't want my name to be Isabella _LotusPetal_." She said LotusPetal distastefully. I wondered if Stephanie took offense to that.

Zachary picked Isabella off the ground and twirled her in the air. She began to giggle uncontrollably. She floated then gently back into her father's arms.

"Come along, Bella, my angel. It's time to go," stated Zach.

Bella yawned, closed her eyes, and snuggled into Zachary's chest. He kissed her forehead and Stephanie opened the door. Zachary, Isabella and Stephanie walked back outside.

"Goodbye Anthony," Monica said as she walked over to hug him. When they released from their hug, Monica looked at my parents.

"Goodbye mom and dad," she said jokingly, but it was made clear to me she thought of my parents as her second mother and father—the parents she could go to if she had a problem. Then Monica looked at me. "Bye, Seth."

"Goodbye Monica," I responded.

Monica smiled. She looked at Luke. "Goodbye Luke."

"Bye," he said.

As Monica was walking out the door, I couldn't help but notice that she was silently giggling, grinning like an idiot, and blushing and embarrassing shade of red, and from that point on, I knew that Monica must have a crush on my twin brother.

Interesting.

Angela's voice pulled me back to attention. She was saying, "Now, Seth, I know you've only been here for a short amount of time. However, to begin training in Ravenwood, there are certain requirements for students to accomplish before beginning school. Luckily, it is Sunday, and we can accomplish mostly everything today."

Richard picked an envelope up off the kitchen counter. "This arrived in the mail this morning."

He handed the envelope to me. It read:

_Greetings, young wizard!_

_This letter has been written by Headmaster Ambrose and sent to you on behalf of your acceptance to Ravenwood School of Magical Arts. As a student wizard, the following things are required:_

A wand

A set of robes whose colors represent your school.

A hat whose colors represent your school

Shoes whose colors represent your school

2 Three Subject Notebooks

A feather pen (we will provide ink wells)

A spell deck

_Congratulations on being accepted to Ravenwood, young wizard! I hope to see you soon!_

_Veneficus Iunctum, En Magus Nos Fides_

_Merle Ambrose, Ravenwood School of Magical Arts_

Inside the envelope, I noticed another small folded-up piece of paper. When I opened it, I realized the writing was written in cursive, which was always painful for my eyes to look at. The letter read:

Dear Seth,

The letter you either just read or are going to read is the standard acceptance letter to Ravenwood School of Magical Arts. However, you are a wizard that is, for lack of better words, different; peculiar. Since you will be training in the three Elemental Schools, you will need, not two three subject notebooks, but three, for I feel you won't need a secondary school. Otherwise, you'd need four or five notebooks. I have had a custom-made deck and wand created for you. I have contacted the Hat Shopkeeper, Gaius SilverThistle, the Robe Shopkeeper, Victor DarkWood, and the Shoe Shopkeeper, Constance WindSong. They have made custom hats, robes and boots, just for you! The only needed thing after would be notebooks and a father pen.

I look forward to seeing you in Ravenwood!

Merle Ambrose, Ravenwood School of Magical Arts

I closed both of the letters and put them inside the envelope again. Anthony walked down-stairs—I didn't even see him going upstairs—and said,

"I have to go."

"Okay," Luke said, waving his hand. "Bye."

I looked at Anthony. "Goodbye."

Smiling, Anthony snapped his fingers and vanished.

"Well," said Angela, "We'll be leaving soon. Luke, would you mind letting your brother borrow some of your clothes, just for today?"

It was only then that I noticed I was still wearing my ratty orphan clothes.

"Doesn't bother me," Luke said. "Come along, Seth. Let's find you something to wear."

**XxXxX**

About an hour later, we were ready to go. I felt kind of weird knowing I was going out in public wearing strange robes, awkward shoes and a funny looking wizard hat, but I knew I would have to adjust to it. Plus, everyone else would be wearing something weird like me. Fortunately, the wizard clothing wasn't anything like that I thought it would be. In fact, they looked better than what I thought they would. I made sure to wear my amulet.

When Luke, Angela, Richard and I were ready and standing in the living room, we linked hands, forming a giant circle. I immediately felt I was spinning. Everything around me became a blur. For a second I thought something bad was happening, but then I noticed Angela's eyes flashing white and her moving mouth.

Then the colors of my background changed, and everything that _was_ a blur slowly came into focus.

I was standing on a street lit up by daylight. On the sidewalks of the cobblestone streets, I saw large street lamps that I suspected lit up the area at night. There were assorted buildings, and most of them had large, rectangular signs hanging above the door with different images on them, such as a paintbrush, a deck of cards, a house on a floating island, et cetera. Each of the buildings had windows, and some of them had bright, yellow light coming from inside, while some others seemed to have no light inside whatsoever. There seemed to be a large fountain nearby. There was a cliff guarded by light stone fences, and there was a sign next to it which read: ELIK'S EDGE. There was a tunnel in the distance which had a curved sign above it that read "The Commons".

People of many ages and ethnicities milled around. The youngest was maybe nine; the oldest was about Angela and Richard's age (you know, in their thirties or forties). Assorted people were independently walking, had one person with them, or were in groups. It was mostly teenagers that were in groups, though.

Richard pulled the envelope out of his robe pocket.

"The deck shop is closest," he said, gesturing to the building that had the sign with the deck of cards hanging above the door. "Let's go there first."

Luke, Angela and I nodded and walked into the Deck Shop. I made sure I was the last to go in. I didn't want to be the leader of the family that I didn't know existed a day ago.

We traveled through each shop conveniently quickly. Generally the process was our entrance, finding the item needed, payment, then departure, and then onto the next store. After approximately two hours of shopping, Angela and Richard brought me to some other place—a bazaar, I think it was called?—where they got my notebooks and feather pen. Finally, just when I thought I would be able to go home and relax for the day, Angela said,

"Seth. Luke will give you a tour of the most important parts of Wizard City. Is that alright? I just don't want you to be lost in case quests are given to you."

I wasn't sure what she meant by quests, but I didn't want to disappoint her, especially when I had just met her. So, secretly hesitant, I said yes.

Angela and Richard then disappeared, leaving Luke and I alone in the streets of the Shopping District.

"Well," Luke said, as I followed him towards one of the tunnels, "I'll start by showing you the Commons."

**XxXxX**

When Lucas and I reached the other end of the tunnel, I was astonished by my surroundings. To my right, a large gate blocked off a large house, which I realized was the Headmaster's Office. A large pond was placed somewhat in the middle of The Commons. People and trees dotted the landscape. In the distance, a waterfall seeped through an aqueduct that had bars protecting children from falling through. The grass was freshly cut and was a perfect shade of green. Clusters of buildings took up lots of the space of The Commons. In the distance was a large building I assumed was a library, since kids and teenagers went in and out carrying handfuls of books.

"This is The Commons," Luke exclaimed. "Every one of the worlds in the Spiral has a central…town area, I guess you can say, where wizards can get mana. See the little blue wisps floating around?"

He pointed to one.

"Yes," I said.

"That's mana," Luke continued. "It'll restore your magical energy, which you need for battles. Health is in places where the monsters are."

"M-Monsters?"

Luke sighed. Obviously he had either hoped I wouldn't catch the last part, or someone had already explained something to me. "Seth, Wizard City is going through some pretty dark times right now."

"Then why does everything seem so…cheerful? Happy? You had a sleepover last night. There's a fricken' fairegrounds over there!" I pointed to the fairegrounds I had noticed.

"I guess you haven't heard the story."

"What story?

"Ah, so I was right. Seth, a couple of years ago, our Life Professor fell gravely ill. Her name was Sylvia Drake. She was married to the Death Professor. Then, a couple of months ago, Sylvia died."

"Ironic that Sylvia was killed by a disease when she's supposed to be a Life Professor, huh?"

Luke glared at me, so I knew he took the sentence the wrong way. It _was_ ironic, but Luke seemed to have thought I was making a joke or something. I knew that Sylvia must've been his previous Life Teacher. I apologized and he continued with the story.

"After Sylvia died, the Death Professor wasn't the same. He stopped attending his favorite Moonlight Symphonies. He didn't have the same relationship with his students. Then, one day, the Death School and its corresponding tower had vanished. A giant chasm took its place. Nobody knows what happened to the school, or to the Death Teacher."

"What was the Death Professor's name?"

"We prefer not to use his name."

"Why not?"

Luke paused. "There are rumors that the Death Professor started the problems in Wizard City."

"Like the monsters," I guessed.

"Right," Luke said. "The attacks started on Unicorn Way. Then Triton Avenue, then Firecat Alley and Cyclops Lane, then Colossus Boulevard, Crab Alley, and so on."

"Why is everyone accusing the Death Professor?"

"Whenever someone mentions his name," Luke explained, "something bad seems to happen."

"What was his name?" I insisted.

Raising his eyebrows, Luke questioned, "Do you _want_ something bad to happen?"

"Whisper it," I demanded. "What's the worst that could happen? According to you, this place is infested with monsters. What's the harm of one or two more showing up?"

Luke seemed nervous, but then he sighed. "Fine, but if _anything_ bad happens, I'm blaming you."

He looked around nervously, but then leaned into my ear and said a name that sent shivers up my spine.

Malistaire.

Thunder boomed in the distance. I remembered his name distinctly from my dream.

"The Drakes—Sylvia, _you-know-who_, and Cyrus, who is or was _you-know-who's_ twin brother—taught the three Spiritual Schools. Now only Cyrus, the Myth Teacher, is left. There is a new Life teacher, Moolinda Wu, and there's this kid in Ravenwood, Malorn AshThorn, who teaches the students of Death the Death spells he knows. Otherwise, Death magic has almost completely disappeared. Malorn only knows the Death spells up to the Vampire, which isn't very high up."

"Weren't there any other students that already learned every Death spell?"

"Well, magic has lived for many millennia. Nobody knows _all_ of the Death spells. And Headmaster Ambrose doesn't know who to turn to. He's really paranoid about the problems that have doomed Wizard City."

"So…basically Ambrose doesn't trust any of the more experienced Death wizards?"

"Well, it's not…" Luke trailed off. "C'mon, I have to show you around."

**XxXxX**

Luke explained that he thought of showing me Unicorn Way, but decided against it. Luke showed me Golem Court, the Minigame Fairegrounds, the Pet Pavilion and the Library, and then introduced me to Prospector Zeke and Eloise Merryweather. Finally, he brought me to a tunnel that had a curved sign above it that read: RAVENWOOD

I gestured for Luke to go in before me. "After you."

Luke smiled and headed off into the tunnel as I trailed behind him, and finally, he reached the other end. The first thing I noticed was the giant tree. To start with, it had a face—a nose, a somewhat mouth, and a blue misty eye on the right side of his face—where his left eye should've been, was a hole-type socket. I wasn't accustomed to trees with faces, of course, but I understood I was in a magical city.

I tried to look around at the other features of Ravenwood. There were buildings that looked like the ones in the Shopping District and in the Commons. There were street lamps dotted on the cobblestone streets and sidewalks. Connecting each of the buildings to a tower was a bridge of sorts that had an image placed on it. To the right of every school was a smaller tree that somehow seemed to represent the building—the school—it was near. The School of Storm's tree had a raincloud pouring above it, and had an unhappy face. As I watched the water sink through a dock and into a stream, I saw an aqueduct with bars around it, and I realized the water from the storm cloud that formed the waterfall in The Commons. In the distance, I could see what appeared to be a tree on fire, which I assumed symbolized the Fire School. Two towers stood to my right and left. I could see a vending machine, some posters with a dragon and Latin words on it, and a few shrubs. A gate surrounded the large tree in the middle of Ravenwood.

Luke walked to a table somewhat off to our left. He picked up what looked like a brochure, but then I realized it was a map. Luke handed the map to me. Each one of the schools, towers and trees was labeled with a name or simply just identified. There were also pictures of the teachers who taught the certain schools of magic. I recognized the professor of the Fire School, Dalia Falmea; the one with the candle flame hair. Otherwise I hadn't heard of them. There didn't seem to be a school of Balance, but according to the map, there was a Balance Instructor named Arthur Wethersfield, who, in the picture seemed to be a dog. I looked up, since he was standing in front of me by what the map said, but he was absent from his spot.

"Go on," Luke said. "Meet the teachers. They won't be mad."

"You're not coming with me?"

"The teachers prefer private meetings."

After a second's silence, I nodded obediently.

"Oh, and Seth?" Luke asked as I was walking off. "I would suggest meeting all of the teachers. You might not need a secondary school to train in, but sometimes it's a good thing to have teachers as friends."

I nodded once more and walked into the School of Storm.

**XxXxX**

The first thing I heard when I walked into the Storm School was thunder. I looked at the ceiling above to see gathered storm clouds. The walls of the Storm School were purple, and there were shields on the wall with a storm cloud that matched the image on my amulet perfectly. Rows of desks faced the front of the room, where stairs led up to a large desk with a bookshelf behind it, and standing on that front desk was…a frog?

"Ah! A new student!" the frog said. "Welcome to the School of Storm, also known as Divination! For those who have chosen to master this Magic are known as Diviners. I am Professor Halston Baelstrom, Master Inventor! Oh, yes, and Professor of Storm Magic! Who can master the power of the Storm Lords and the Seas? Anyone who can harness their creativity. You look like a smart one!"

"Uh…thanks?"

"You're welcome!" Halston said with glee. "Now, before you go, I would like you to please read the book on that pedestal over there."

"All of it?"

"No, Seth," Halston exclaimed with a laugh, though I found it interesting how he knew my name without me telling him it. "Just the page it is opened to."

"Mmkay," I said as I walked over to the pedestal. The title of the page Halston wanted me to read was: HISTORY OF THE STORM SCHOOL

_Before time as we know it, there existed the Tritons. They shared the universe with the Dragons and Giants. The Tritons ruled the seas and kept peace in the world, that is, until the Dragons and Giants began to scheme. When the attack happened, the Tritons were ready. They refused to fully destroy their enemy and so, fell into slumber as their price for mercy. Today, the Storm elements still exist. Even now the more potent Storm Magic holds Fire and Ice at bay. Under the guidance of Professor Halston Baelstrom, great reforms have been made, formalizing many spells. The colors chosen for Diviner's are purple and yellow, while the Amethyst has been adopted as the gemstone. _

When I was done, I looked up from the book. Halston was looking through some papers, so I continued looking around the room. What I was most interested in was a cauldron of sorts that had a bubbling purple substance boiling inside.

"Alrighty, Seth! I am finished with the paperwork! I hope to see you in class tomorrow! Check by later when you are ready to release your inner thunder!"

I gave Halston a smile before leaving.

Upon exiting the School of Storm, I looked at the table of maps to make sure Luke hadn't ditched. He stood there patiently. I waved to him before moving onto the School of Ice.

The schools weren't placed too far apart, but the sensation of the cold reached me when I passed the tree—a pine tree—that symbolized the Ice School. The tree's branches were covered in snow. The Ice School has the same exterior design as the Storm School did; only everything was about ice, frost, snow and icicles, instead of storm clouds, thunder, lightning and electricity.

I sighed, and I noticed the air was cold enough for me to see my breath. Slightly chuckling, I walked into the Ice school.

Somehow, the inside of the school was colder than the outside. The school looked almost the same as the Storm School, although it was changed to fit as an Ice School—its walls were colors such as light blue, white, and silver. The shields on the walls had a snowflake on them, still matching the snowflake on my necklace. Otherwise, it was basically the same, with desks and bookshelves. Then I heard the voice.

"Welcome dear!" somebody said above me.

I looked back and forth trying to find the source of the voice. Then I saw her.

An old, granny-like fairy floated in the air. She seemed to be dusting the shields hung on the wall.

"A-are you the I-Ice t-t-teacher?" I said, not hesitating because of the astonishment, but because of the cold.

"I am Lydia Greyrose," the woman said happily, "your Ice Magic Professor. Ice Magic, or Thaumaturgy, is not for the impatient or flighty! My goodness, no! You'll need to study hard to learn Ice Magic, but I am sure you'll be great at it! And I'll always offer a hand if you need it. Now, as a new student, I will not chew up time from your Sunday by making you read the History of the Ice School like Halston probably did. I will give you a warning, though. Do not show up late to my class, or I will punish you. I dislike tardiness very much."

"Don't worry," I said, "I don't like showing up to things later either, so don't expect me to be tardy."

Lydia smiled at me and fluttered her wings as she flew over to the shields on the wall and began dusting again.

Before I walked out the door, Lydia said, "Come see me later when you're ready to begin your lessons. You have much to learn from Ice! And say hello to Headmaster Ambrose for me please!"

"I w-will!" I promised her.

As soon as I walked outside, I ran into Luke.

"I got tired of waiting," Luke laughed. I giggled.

"C'mon, I just have to meet the Fire teacher."

**XxXxX**

Dalia was pretty nice, although she seemed somewhat upset that I interrupted her watching a "peaceful sunset." She introduced herself and made me read the History of the Fire School. It basically talked about the war between the Fire Dragons, the Frost Giants and the Tritons, and how the gemstone of the school was the ruby while the school colors were red and orange. I met with Malorn, Cyrus and Moolinda, but they were pretty quick, two minute meetings. Well, Cyrus was kind of strict, and didn't seem happy that two students got in the middle of his "perfect" Sunday of quiet, doing research and eating sushi. Malorn re-explained the story behind the disappearance of the Death School and offered to teach me the Death spells.

The Life Teacher, Moolinda Wu, surprised me by her physical appearance. She looked like a Chinese cow. She seemed very calm and serene. She suggested I meet Bartleby, but I was getting tired, and Luke still had to show me Olde Town at that point.

Luke brought me to the entrance of the Shopping District.

"Why are we going in here? I've already seen everything in here."

"I'd rather walk to Olde Town than to waste mana teleporting there. It's just through the Shopping District," Luke explained as he walked through the tunnel.

Luke and I turned a corner, and in the distance I could see the tunnel to Olde Town. However, Luke and I were only half-way to the tunnel when somebody screamed our names.

I turned around to look where the voice had come. In a matter of seconds, I could see Monica RosePetal and Anthony DragonBlood. They were with other people I didn't recognize, though. I assumed that they were the people Monica, Anthony and Luke were talking about the night before. There were four girls and one boy I didn't recognize. Soon Monica, Anthony and the five mystery kids reached Luke and me.

"Hey guys," Monica said. "Everyone, this is Seth, the one Anthony and I told you about," she gestured to me. "Seth, this is everyone."

I waved hello.

A girl stepped forward. She had black hair and deep, gray eyes. Based on her physical appearance, I realized it was Kelsey StormCloud, Anthony's girlfriend. The girl held out her hand.

"I'm Kelsey StormCloud," she introduced herself. Her stepping forward seemed to cause a chain reaction, as if she were the leader of the group, because then others began to line up and shake my hand and introduce themselves. The next was a girl with skin unnaturally white and pale, like snow. She had warm, coffee brown eyes and lush, black hair.

"I'm Roslyn IceGem," the girl said, "but you can call me Rose."

"What school do you train in?" I asked. It seemed pretty obvious she trained in the school of Ice, but I wanted to be sure.

"I train in the Ice school," she responded.

The boy stepped forward.

He had dark eyes, and short, black hair. His skin was just as colorless as the pale girl's was. I wondered if they were twins, or even related for that matter.

"Jake DeathBringer," he said shyly, and from saying it that, I felt he was hiding some, huge secret. "As my surname implies," Jake continued, "I train in the school of Death."

Jake sunk back into the crowd. A girl stepped forward. She has straight blonde hair that fell gracefully down her back and was the same length as Monica's. She was shorter than Luke and taller than me, but the height difference between Luke and I wasn't very much. She had crystal blue eyes and small amounts of freckles on her cheeks. She had Caucasian skin. She held out her hand. I shook it.

"Natalie StarDust," she said.

"Seth SteelWielder," I replied.

The last girl stepped forward. She had brown hair and dark blue eyes which were surrounded by a sea of olive skin.

"Violet FireBlossom," she introduced. I was about to say something to her, but Violet seemed just as shy as Jake.

"Well," said Monica, "I guess we should let Luke finish giving Seth his tour."

Some people nodded in agreement. The circle broke up into twos—Jake and Anthony, Monica and Rose, and Natalie and Kelsey. However, Violet drifted off by herself, and as everyone went into different stores, Luke and I were the only ones left in the streets of the Shopping District. Then, Luke stalked off to the tunnel to Olde Town, muttering something about Monica, and I had no choice but to follow.

Olde Town was this giant, town-like landscape with a bazaar. Mom had previously taken me to the bazaar, but I didn't see much of Olde Town. Luke showed me the tunnels to Cyclops Lane, Triton Avenue and Firecat Alley, and even told me some information on each of them—like how each of the streets had a central focus of magic, how Monica lived on Firecat Alley somewhat nearby Dalia Falmea, how Anthony's sisters, the twins Chelsea and Cassandra live on Cyclops Lane with their friends, et cetera. However, we didn't actually go inside any of the three streets.

I was introduced to Baldur GoldPaws, who told me about Grizzleheim, one of the worlds in the Spiral, but told me I couldn't go there until I was experienced enough. Apparently Luke had been training in Ravenwood for most of his life, but wasn't yet experienced enough to do. When I questioned this, Baldur told me that most wizards start battle training when they are thirteen or fourteen, while younger wizards learn to do simple magic like teleportation until they turn the age to learn attack spells, and that Luke would need plenty of battle spells in Grizzleheim.

Finally, it was beginning to get dark, and Luke transported us home. We ate dinner with the family, and went to bed, not only because it was a school night, but because we were tired after walking around Wizard City all day.

Yet scaring me the most was when I woke up in the middle of the night to see a tall figure looming over me with their wand in their hand.

**AN:** MWAHAHAHAHAHA! CLIFFHANGER! Well, I guess you'll just have to review to figure out what happens next! Besides, reviews are the tickets to updates, my dears. Also, answer these questions about Chapter Five:

**Questions:**

If you could have any of the characters in this story so far on your side of a battle, who would it be?

If you were a wizard, what school would you be placed in based on your personality and likes/dislikes?

What would you do if you woke up to someone standing over you at night with a wand at the ready?

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One more thing: if you can't review this chapter because I deleted the author's note and it says that you've already reviewed the chapter, please either leave an anonymous review that has the same penname as your actual fanfiction account or simply PM me! Thank you so much!

**~PJATOSROCKS09~**


	6. Dark Magic

**AN:** I know I should have some huge massive explanation as to why I haven't updated in so long. I lost the rough draft for Chapter Six during the 4th of July, and after that I suddenly lost inspiration. However, you can thank _The Monkey Girl_, another author on fanfiction, for updating her W101 story because it made me want to write the Dawn of Heroes again xD Well, you've waited long enough to read this, so I'm going to let you read now…

**CHAPTER SIX**

Dark Magic

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Out of instinct, I quickly grabbed my wand.

The figure quickly stepped back, obviously frightened.

"Seth," a familiar voice said. "It's just me."

I heard the man mutter a spell under his breath, and the room filled with light. Richard SteelWielder—my father—stepped out of the shadows and greeted me.

"Sorry for frightening you," he apologized. "I was just trying to do something."

Instantly I wondered what thing he was 'trying to do' in my bedroom. I didn't speak up about it, though. I just simply asked what he was trying to do.

"I was trying to cast a spell on you. Age fourteen is when wizards actually enroll in Ravenwood for the first time. Your younger sister, Heather has been attending DragonBlood Academy."

I recognized DragonBlood as Anthony's last name. He explained a second later.

"Anthony's great-grandfather, Valdus DragonBlood, founded it. It's a school for young wizards. It teaches them simple magic such as turning a brick into a bunny rabbit. Ravenwood is actually when you learn interesting battle and combat spells revolving around the elements."

"So what spell were you casting?" I asked.

"It's called the Knowledge Spell. It gives the target it was casted on knowledge of all the spells that are intended to be learned before Ravenwood. It was created for wizards in situations similar to you."

_In situations similar to me_, he said. As if wizards torn from their parents, growing up on Earth for the first fourteen years of their live in horrible orphanages, then being thrown into another dimension, forced to learn magical spells, was something that happened every day.

"So…basically, when you cast this spell on me…well, I'm guessing Luke starts Ravenwood this year?"

"Yes. He already attended DragonBlood Academy. You came here just about on time to start Ravenwood.

"So…when you cast this spell on me, I'll know all of the normal spells? Like Luke?"

"Correct."

"Then…cast away, I guess."

Richard gave me a sly smile. He requested that I closed my eyes. I obeyed. He whispered, "_Sciendemagus_."

Instantly, I felt a rush in my head. It was as if little memories had ignited—little memories that I didn't remember. Except instead of memories, they were spells. _Leporablater_, _Hominspiruglacie_, _Quisappar_, _Vidennatali_, and so on.

Then, the rush suddenly stopped.

"Perfect," Richard said. "Would you like to test it?"

"Umm…sure?"

He smiled. He asked me to lift my wand. I did.

"We'll start with something small. Like a fireball spell."

_That, was small?_

"I myself was a Balance wizard when I was in Ravenwood," he said. "So was Angela. Heather, as you know, is also a Balance wizard. As you know, Luke is all three of the Spiritual Schools. It makes sense, I guess, that you're all of the Elemental Schools. You guys are twins. Twins generally have the same school of magic, or the complete opposite. Or they inherit their school from a parent or distant relative. But anyways, let's start practice."

**XxXxX**

"And you're positive this is safe?" I asked.

"One hundred percent," he responded. "Just chant the word, _Infernetti_."

I raised my wand and shouted the chant. Nothing happened.

"You kind-of have to flick your wand while saying it. And you have to say it with feeling."

I chanted the word again, while flicking my wand. I didn't know exactly how to say it with 'feeling', so I sort-of just said it with more expression. Suddenly, the tip of my wand crackled with fire, flames dancing off the very tip.

Richard grinned. "Excellent."

"How do I make it stop?"

Suddenly his face fell. "Well…spells stop after they are used properly. The _Infernetti_ spell sends a fireball off the tip of the wand."

"So I have no way of getting rid of it unless I flick it somewhere?"

"Basically."

Considering the house was basically an island floating in the middle of a sky, I stood on the edge of the grass and flicked the fire off my wand. The fireball grew larger and unattached itself from the tip of my wand and sped away into the starry night.

When I turned around, Richard was standing behind me.

"I think that's enough practice for tonight," Richard said. "Tomorrow's you and Luke's first day of Ravenwood. It's Heather's last year at DragonBlood Academy before she starts attending Ravenwood."

We went back inside, and I went back into my bedroom. After getting underneath my covers, Richard peaked in from the doorway.

"Good night, Seth."

"Good night, Richa—I mean, Dad."

He smiled, and closed the door. He said something on the other side of the wall, and the light disappeared from my room.

**XxXxX**

The next morning, I walked downstairs into the kitchen. Angela was making French toast and bacon. Heather was already sitting at the table, and I could hear Luke's footsteps coming from the second floor of the house.

I sat down at the table quietly. Angela planted a plate instantly in front of me at the table. I took a bite, and instantly fell in love with her cooking, just as I had with the pasta she made. The food she served was a huge step up from the food I ate in the orphanage.

Luke came downstairs and ate breakfast with Heather and I. Richard didn't seem to be present at the house at all, so I assumed that maybe he had a job or went shopping or something.

After breakfast, she told Luke and Heather to put their plates in the sink. However, she pampered me for some reason, and took my plate away from me once I was finished.

After several minutes, Angela told us that it was seven thirty. Homeroom started officially at seven forty-five, so she ushered us to get going. I didn't know where exactly to go, so I simply followed Luke and Heather.

After saying goodbye to our mother, the three of us walked outside. Luke and Heather began walking towards the Spiral Door (which my parents had explained to me the night before). Heather slid a key into the keyhole, and I almost followed her, but Luke grabbed my shoulder.

"The key that she has leads to DragonBlood Academy. She's going to a different destination. I have the key to Ravenwood."

I didn't exactly know how to reply to that, so I just nodded.

After Heather said goodbye to us, she turned the doorknob and opened the door. A vortex was on the other side of it. She calmly walked through it and disappeared in a flash of light. The door closed by itself.

Luke stepped forward and put a different looking key into the lock. "Dad gave me this key this morning. It's my first year at Ravenwood, too."

He turned the doorknob and opened the door. A different colored vortex was swirling through the doorway. I was somewhat frightened for some reason, and Luke seemed to understand. He walked through, and he turned into a bright flash of light. The door began to quickly close, but I caught it with my foot. Quickly, I stepped into the vortex.

All I could see around me was a blur of many different colors. I didn't see Luke or anybody, so I was completely alone, wrapped up in a rainbow.

And then, suddenly, I felt like I was falling. The colorful background disappeared, and then I was in complete darkness. I landed smoothly on a black floor. Luke was standing in front of a door, which stood in the middle of the black void. I walked towards him. He opened the door to reveal the smell of forest pine. We walked through the doorway, and we were in the middle of a large tree. The Spiral Door was on top of a platform. People came in and out of the tree through another door in the distance. I began walking down the platform when somebody knocked me down by running into me.

"Watch where you're going!" the boy shouted. He stared me down with his intense, grass green guys. His black bangs hung in his face. His pale skin was a large contrast to my tanned skin. He continued glaring at me, then continued walking in the direction he was going.

Luke helped me up. "Don't mind Alex. He's just mean."

"And rude," I added.

"Nobody really knows his story," Luke sighed as we continued walking. "Nobody knows why he's so mean to everybody. But his grades are horrible. He listens to depressing music. He lives in the same neighborhood as Jake. We think he's just suffering from depression or something and copes with it by raging at everyone else; by making everyone feel scared."

We walked out the front door of the tree.

"The school called our house to tell us that because of the way homerooms are organized, we'll be in Moolinda Wu's homeroom. That homeroom has all the people with last names R to Z."

"Alright," I said. We began walking towards the Life School, backpacks slung over our shoulders.

We walked in and instantly took a seat next to Monica, Kelsey and Natalie.

"Hey guys," Luke greeted.

"Hey," they all replied with a smile.

People continued piling into homeroom. Eventually, Moolinda began speaking.

She said in a Chinese accent, "Good morning, everyone! Because this is our first day, when I call attendance, please tell me if you have a preferred nickname you would like to be addressed by."

She began calling attendance, starting with the Rs.

"Madeline RavenWhisper?" Moolinda called.

"Here," a girl with dark hair and dark eyes replied. She wore dark robes and makeup. "You can call me Maddie."

Moolinda scribbled something down on the attendance sheet, then walked over to where Maddie was sitting and handed her a schedule. Then, she continued to call attendance.

"Monica RosePetal?" she shouted.

Monica called to Moolinda's attention. Moolinda handed her a schedule and continued calling people: Eric ShadowFlame, Kimberly SoulBreath, twins Chase and Grace SpellBreaker. Next, she called out Natalie. She gave Natalie a schedule, which I gazed at as she read it.

The schedule had Natalie's name in the top left corner, and it listed her homeroom teacher, list of classes, and so on. I stopped looking at the schedule when I realized I should pay attention to who was being called for attendance.

"Lucas SteelWielder?"

"Here," my brother said. "You can call me Luke."

Moolinda wrote something down on the attendance sheet.

"Seth SteelWielder?"

"Here," I said, raising my head. She glanced at me for a second and nodded, then handed me my schedule.

"Kelsey StormCloud?"

Kelsey did the same as everyone else did, and was handed a schedule. Slowly, I began to stop paying attention to the names being called for attendance and began reading my schedule. Ravenwood seemed to run on a three day schedule, with different classes in a different order on each day. I assumed today was Day One, as it was the first day of school. According to the schedule, I had Ice Class first, then Fire Class, and then Storm. I talked with Monica, Kelsey, Natalie and Luke until the bell rang, signaling the start for first period. I walked over to the Ice school immediately, remembering the warning Professor Greyrose had given me.

The second I walked into the Ice School, I felt my body temperature decrease dramatically. I began to get Goosebumps, but I avoided them and took a seat.

Eventually, the bell rang again, signaling for class to start. Some people were still filing into the room and getting into their seats. Several moments later, Lydia Greyrose began to speak.

"Good morning, class! My name is Professor Greyrose! First I am going to take attendance, and then our lessons shall begin!"

She began calling attendance, and I realized that Rose was actually in my class, which I suppose made sense considering she was a student of Ice Magic. After she finished the attendance list, she told us to select one of our binders to be used for Ice Class.

I bought binders based on colors for the school—I had a blue binder for Ice, a red binder for Fire and a purple binder for Storm. Generally, out of the three classes during the day, people had two of the three classes dedicated to their primary school of magic and one of the three classes dedicated to their secondary school. However, considering I was enrolled in Fire, Ice and Storm, I wasn't given the option of having a secondary school.

Professor Greyrose, in her fairy-like ways, fluttered around the classroom, placing papers in front of us. They were labeled: ICE and had the symbol of the Ice school, a snowflake, below it. She snapped her fingers, and suddenly the papers were engraved onto our binders, becoming a binder cover.

She then asked us to fill our binder with filler paper, which we did. Throughout the entire class, all we did was set up our binder, learn each other's names a little better, and got shown around the room. Towards the end of class, she told us all to stand up, and began giving assigned seats. I was on the right side of the room in the second row of desks. Also, Rose was placed in front of me, so I at least could have a friend to talk to and get along with in Ice.

Then, the bell rang. I didn't know where the bells were coming from—probably nowhere and just sound produced by magic—but you could hear them very clearly. Some people stood up to leave, but others didn't. According to my schedule, I had Fire Class next. I walked over to the Fire School, and felt the differences in temperature change. I went from chattering my teeth because of the cold to sweating because of the heat.

Due to the differences in some people's schedules, some of the people that had been in Fire Class while I was in Ice were leaving the room, but some stayed there. Luckily, I wasn't the only person who suddenly just had Fire Class, so I wasn't just walking in there by myself and making a fool of myself. I noticed that Monica was sitting in the class, too.

For Fire Class, we pretty much did the same thing as we did in Ice—we had introductions, began to set up our binder, learned about what we would be doing over the course of the year, and so on. However, the people who had Fire Class already just got to kind-of chill while us new kids were taught about everything they just learned about.

Professor Falmea didn't assign seats, which made me kind-of happy because I was seated next to Monica, and a girl named Violet who seemed pretty nice. However, Falmea warned that if it got to out of hand, seats would be assigned.

Towards the end of the period, a cauldron full of a reddish orange liquid began bubbling. Falmea walked towards it calmly and wove her hands above it. The image of Merle Ambrose, our headmaster, rose from the cauldron.

"Is Monica RosePetal in your class at the moment?"

"Yes," said Professor Falmea.

"Could you please send her to my office?"

Falmea nodded, and Ambrose's image disappeared. Monica packed her things together, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and exited the Fire School. I found it kind of weird, but I decided I'd ask her about it later.

Soon, the bell rang for the last period of the day. I had Storm Class. I exited the Fire School and began walking towards the School of Storm. I noticed Kelsey walking towards the Storm School, which made me happy, because it meant I had at least one friend in each of my classes.

Storm class dragged on just as Fire and Ice did, and we went through the same procedure. Professor Baelstrom separated the people who had already been in Storm Class from the people who were coming here for the first time. It was only me and about five other students who were here for the first time. Kelsey was on the other side of the room, but considering she was walking towards the school when I was, it was apparent that she had Storm Class first period, then her secondary school, and finally Storm again.

We did the same things as we did in other classes—set up our binder, learned about Storm Class, and so on. Baelstrom also introduced us to the School Tree, Torrence. Eventually, the bell rang, and the school day was over.

I walked inside of Bartleby and stood around for a while for Luke, since he had the key. I didn't know why my parents hadn't given me a key yet, but I really hoped Luke hadn't just forgotten about me and already left for home.

After several minutes, as students were finally starting to clear out, I checked the time. I had been here for several hours, and it was almost 12:30. I knew that schools on Earth generally lasted until two or three in the afternoon, but I understood why we got out so early considering we only had three classes that were an hour-and-a-half long each.

Suddenly, Luke came running up to me.

"Seth! We have to get to Firecat Alley! It's important!"

Luke clearly looked very distraught and upset. He was sweating very badly and he had a terrified look in his eyes.

"What happened?" I asked, shocked.

"Monica's house is on fire!"

**AN:** CLIFFHANGER! I'm kind of suckish like that after being gone for so long, but I really want reviews XD I've decided not to ask three questions, but just one: How do you think Monica' s house caught on fire? What do you think happened?


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